Reviews of Carré d'As by Nicolaï

Genre: Citrus

Carre d'As starts out with a very bright, juicy citrus accord with a creamy texture that brings to mind a tropical drink. Some very smooth woods soon well up underneath, along with sweet spices and a slight hint of tonka or vanilla, all of which give the scent some depth and body. Carre d'As floats along on this very pleasant acocrd for a long time before it glides into its woods, moss and vanilla drydown.

There's nothing earthshaking here, and Carre d'As is not as original as some other recent entries in the same genre, including Iskander and Bahiana. On the other hand, it is very well balanced and well made, which can't be said of too many newer citrus scents. Not exciting, but a more-than-serviceable everyday fragrance for summer.

I think this more a unisex fragrance-my 19 year old son likes it as much as I(Mom) do. (Anything to get him away from Axe!!)! Carre d'As is light and alluring, very clean. I could wear it as an everyday scent. Just wonderful. I just wish it would last longer on the skin.

Kind of a weak barbershoppy fougere, with a bit more of the sharp greenness of something like XS or Himalaya, and maybe a tad more anise than average...not bad by any means, but as was the case with her Vetyver, the stregth is just pathetic. Otherwise a perfecly fine, natural-smelling example of this type, but with maybe a little extra smoke. Be warned, though, that the far drydown, weak as it is, becomes kind of a smoky Curve.

I sampled this recently after not smelling it for several years and the first thing that struck me when it came out of the bottle was... Platinum Egoiste.It's so similar to the Chanel, once I made the connection I just couldn't shake it.Yes it's well blended and has decent longevity, but I already have Platinum Egoiste and if I run out, I will buy that rather than this.

Not really one for me. Carre D'as has a delicate and gentle citrus top with an equally gentle drydown. The base though was a bit of a surprise, it's a lot softer that the individual elements would have you expecting.Though this is my least favourite PdN it's perfectly acceptable, just nothing special!

Opens up nice and citrusy but heads down the usual lane of cleanness like Dolce & Gabbana pour Homme with a touch of leather. Don't need to repeat this.

This is a subtle and complex scent. It has a beautiful citrus-wood opening. There are light brown herbal notes which are a bit dusky. These probably are from the tobacco and frankincense. The spices are muted. At times there is a kind of ozonic or metallic note which gives a misty, cool quality. Generally, the elements are well blended, being smooth rather than very distinct. My caveat here is that the scent is intended to be a "modern take on fougere" and yet it has no lavender, moss or coumarin (the traditional elements of that sort of scent). It does not smell mossy, green or "ferny" to me in any way. This plus that ozonic note keep it in the neutral category for me, but there is really nothing wrong with this scent.

A second of Vibert and Foetidus' comments that there is nothing earth-shattering here, but Carre d'As is a lovely, elegant and well-balanced fragrance. Notes are: Top: Spanish lemon, lime bark, leather.Middle: Spices including thyme, nutmeg and pepper.Base: Chinese ginger, tobacco, frankincense and musk.Carre d'As is now being marketed as a unisex fragrance, and I believe it works well on women who are comfortable wearing men's fragrances and unisex scents that skew traditionally "masculine" (myself included), and that Carre d'As probably comes across as a more unusual fragrance on a woman.

Carré D'As opens with a bright citrus / ginger accord that doesn't last very long. The use of ginger makes it the kind of citrus accord that I don't care too much for – the ginger (but not the scent) reminds me a of Bulgari Blu which I once overdosed on and I do not carry fond memories about. Leather enters into the fragrance immediately after the short-lived citrus opening, and it is soft and smooth leather – more suede-like than saddle. This leather adds a richer texture to the thyme, nutmeg, and pepper. The drydown manages to shed the miscreant ginger note and provide a very nice base of tobacco and musk – very little incense in this masculine dry down. As in the other Parfums de Nicolai fragrances I've tried, Carré d'As is well constructed and nicely refined. It is not a fragrance that excites me, but, if you like ginger, you might want to test this one out...

Next to New York, this is my favorite PdN scent. It's an aromatic, discreet fern scent with noticeable Chinese ginger and frankincense notes. These lend it just the correct amount of light spice. A keeper.